Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran today said that the head executives of the oil companies Shell, Caltex and Petron should be summoned to Congress and grilled regarding the relentless series of oil price hikes. He said that the oil companies were having a field day jacking their prices on an almost weekly basis, and the impact on consumers and the economy was deadly. He said that it's the executives and big investors of Shell, Caltex and Petron who should be castigated for the oil price hikes -- them and the law they released billions of funds to have approved and passed, the oil deregulation law.

"The spokespersons and executives of Shell, Caltex and Petron keep shrugging their shoulders whenever they're criticized regarding the oil price hike - as if they had nothing to do about it or as if they have no control over it," he said. "They're all liars - making up excuses to cover up their real profit motive. There should be transparency in the records of the oil companies - their inventory stock, their price mechanisms, and their profit margins. We should all s tart with Petron's books as its the oil company that earning the most, and because the Philippine government has shares of stock in it," he said.

"It's not the international oil pricing situation that's dictating the changes in pricing - it's sheer and unabiding corporate greed,' he said. "There is no justifying the oil price hikes. Prices can remain stable if the oil companies do not change their prices at the slightest whim. The brutal and contemptible truth is that the oil companies are holding the country hostage, and this should be immediately stopped."

Beltran said that Senate and Congress should immediately address the oil price hikes. He urged lawmakers HB1065 junking the oil deregulation law. "There is no way that the economy much less consumers can continue shouldering the oil price hikes. Oil deregulation has brought the industry and consumers down to their knees."

"It's an outrage that Malacanang and the Department of Energy are essentially lying prostrate in front of the oil companies, not lifting a single finger to stop the oil companies from their greedy price manipulation and relentless profiteering. What the oil companies are doing is tantamount to economic sabotage and terrorism. Hundreds of small Filipino business will be forced to close shop because of the high petroleum prices that inevitably cause prices of all raw materials and services to also skyrocket." #